3D Seafood Printing: New and Disruptive Ready to Use Seafood from Sustainable Byproducts

Innovation Showcase
Holly Kristinsson (Petty), Ph.D.  

3D food printing is a top emerging technologies in the food industry. It is a disruptive technology for the future kitchen and will be a key influencer for our digital food culture with multisensory and visual impact. This technology creates significant opportunities for the seafood industry to reduce waste, diversify utilization and increase market value of byproducts, meet nutritional needs of future consumers, and create the next generation of customizable seafood products with positive social media touchpoints around seafood. As a new technology applied to seafood, 3D food printing requires significant study and optimization. Processing, formulation and consumer testing are all integral to appeal to consumers. Formulations from Icelandic seafood byproducts are being developed. To make consumer-centric formulations and refrigerated ready to print fish protein based products from fish byproducts various processing parameters and methods, and product properties are being investigated as well as addition of functional ingredients (e.g. omega-3 fatty acids, seaweed extracts and astaxanthin) and food safety. Iceland´s first 3D food printing focus groups were conducted investigating how Baby Boomers and Millennials perceive 3D printed fish products. These are the first in-person focus groups in Iceland where 3D printed fish products were presented to participants and provoked not only discussion around 3D food printing, but seafood and seafood sustainability and digital readiness. We will present the 3D food printing work done on seafoods so far and print innovative seafood products to show that this disruptive technology can promote seafood consumption and sustainability.